The GNU Image
Manipulation Program, also known as GIMP for short
was started in 1995 by Spencer Kimball and Peter Mattis and
is now maintained by a group of volunteers. GIMP
originally stood for General Image Manipulation Program; in
1997, the name was changed to GNU Image Manipulation
Program. It is an official part of the GNU project. GIMP is
freely distributed software suitable for such tasks as
photo retouching, image composition and image authoring.

GIMP has inspired many other projects including gimp-print
and CinePaint
(formerly Film GIMP). GIMP inspired the user
interface design of other applications including Sodipodi
and Dia.